Monitoring And Accounting For Covid-19 Donations Outside The National Trust Fund

Introduction

Presently and until we are completely out of this pandemic era, personal protective equipment (PPEs), alcohol-based hand sanitizers, soaps and tissues are the major items that will continue to be in high demand. The Ghana Health Service and the World Health Organization recommends regular and thorough cleaning of hands with an alcohol-based hand rub or washing with soap and water. This is in addition to practising good respiratory hygiene (cough and sneeze into bent elbow or tissue which should be disposed of immediately and appropriately). Other items include test kits and other very important clinical gadgets required by hospitals for examining and treating suspected and confirmed patients respectively.

The need for these items coupled with the positive giving attitude of our society has made donations one main eye-catching social activity in this era of COVID-19. The willingness and interest to donate shows how committed some persons are in ensuring the up-keeping and wellbeing of others. The act fulfils the Godly principle of ‘be each other’s keeper’. To this end, many patriotic and philanthropic Ghanaian individuals, organizations and agencies have donated several items including cash in support of the fight against COVID-19. Several of these donations have been done all over the country. These donations have mainly been given to communities or institutions within an area, district or region of interest to the donor. It is also true that in some cases, donors have acted upon the request of the recipient community, agency and/or institution. Donations are sincere sacrifices of others, therefore, their equitable and appropriate distribution, use and the transparent accounting for are very important.

It is also worthy of mention that aside these donations, the Government of Ghana has established a COVID-19 National Trust Fund 2020 to receive donations to enable Government meet the added needs and necessities of the citizenry as a result of the pandemic. The establishment of the Fund follows the passage of the COVID-19 National Trust Fund Bill on Thursday 2nd April under the Certificate of Urgency by the parliament of Ghana. So, the situation in the country regarding donations is two-folds, i.e. donations received by the Trust Fund and donations presented directly to the needy communities, individuals, organization or agency as identified by the donors. All eyes will be on the president and the managers of the fund to render apt accounting for all donations made. It is therefore not surprising that during one of His national addresses on 6th April, the president notified the citizenry that the Fund had accrued GH¢ 8.75 million. Further to that, the Chairperson of the Fund announced on 11th May, 2020 that the Fund has received GH¢ 44, 900,000.00 in addition to other items including vehicles.

Unlike this fund, who is monitoring and accounting for all the donations made across the country to communities, institutions and agencies by private donors and some state agencies? As much as these donations are private, thus, not from Government’s funds, there is the tendency of Government not monitoring its use and ensuring accurate accounting for same. However, the pandemic has taught the country a lot of beautiful lessons. For instance, Government in accounting for the number of useable ventilators in the country was quick to add those available in private hospitals. This emphasizes the need to be nationalistic in all necessary matters. Besides, donors often remark ‘Government alone is unable to provide all the needed resources required for the fight against COVID-19’. This means that in the view of the donors, they are supporting the Government through the donations they provide to communities, SMEs, organizations etc. You will recall that on 19th April, 2020, the President in his address to the nation was emphatic in his appreciation of the contribution of individuals and private organizations to communities, groups and agencies. The gesture of the President further applauds the action of donors as a nationalistic character and attitude.

It, therefore, beats imagination that praise is given to the donors but no national monitoring and accounting are attached to the donations received. It remains a fact that at the peak period of the donations which were largely spontaneous, there was little time to immediately issue a national directive regarding the profiling, assessment, management, distribution, use and accounting for same. This is not to suggest that the local agencies, communities and organizations that received such donations did not have requisite structures to manage the donations. Notwithstanding, the absence of a national information base on all of such donations be it to private companies, communities and/or state agencies could inhibit consistency of information, fairness in resource

distribution and inhibit critical national assessment. The worse of all is that the donations could be diverted by some unsympathetic officials, community leaders among others for their personal interest.

The gap

The sporadic manner of the donations could cause uneven distribution of the resources needed to curtail the impact of the pandemic. Subsequently, wastage, misuse and abuse could ensue in the places, health facilities and agencies where there are excess resources. Moreover, failure on the part of Government to effectively monitor and ensure proper accounting for donations could result in the recipients later accusing Government of not providing them with the requisite pandemic ready materials. All donations are in support of the Government’s initiative. Therefore, the Government should be interested in monitoring all of such donations. It is instructive to note that all donors

Another important matter for consideration regarding the items donated is the cost donors attach to the donated items. For instance, ‘these items are worth so much Ghana cedis’. How does the recipient immediately verify the veracity of the claim? It is always easy to verify the amount of cash. However, which mechanism has been used in affirming the cost and quantities of items as indicated by the donor(s)? Is it the case that what the donor said or says is admitted as the actual fact? In my view, it is prudent to ascertain the actual cost and quantity of all donations as and when received. Doing this will ensure that reliable data is made available and also deny donors the laxity of attaching outrageous costs to the items donated.

It is still unclear whether Government is prepared with data to show a nationwide thorough accounting for all donations made across the country both to the National Trust Fund and to communities, agencies and institutions.

My Call

I argue that as managers of the COVID-19 pandemic, Government should monitor and ensure strict accounting for whatever resources individuals and private organizations donate to communities, state and/or private agencies. This would enable the Government to oversee the use

and management of such donations. It would also ensure equitable resource distribution to health and other needy facilities.

The information gathered from such monitoring will be useful in assessing the actual cost and expenditure of the pandemic to the country. Besides, monitoring donations would ensure accurate determination of when to, which resources, how much and which health facility, community and or organization to support and with what.

It would also offer the opportunity to verify the veracity of the claim of donors regarding the cost of items donated. This will also help in estimating the future cost of similar pandemics on the society and economy for which the country must prepare. Moreover, it will also enable the Government to quantify the added contribution from several individuals, agencies and organizations that were not presented into the COVID-19 Fund.

Proposal

The Government must collate comprehensive information on all donations of items and cash made to communities, agencies, groups and/or organizations due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information and the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation through collaboration with the media should create a profile for a regular update on donations made across the country.

Additionally, Government representatives in all districts and regions must be able to follow all donations made within their communities to organizations, communities and individuals. This will enable the representatives to assist the Central Government with information and advice the National Trust Fund regarding where to focus additional support.

Dr. Bismark Quarku Parker

Center for Social Science Research, Kumasi Technical University